HTC’s Vive will cost £689 in the UK

At last, we have a UK price for the HTC Vive. We always knew that the VR headset would cost a little more than the Oculus Rift, given the difference in the pair’s hardware. The bundled wand controllers and the external sensors for room mapping and location-tracking…it had to add up. But how much? £689.

If you do decide to pull the trigger, HTC says Google’s Tilt Brush will also be included in the pre-order bundle. However, that’ll only be available for a limited time. We hope you’ve been saving, because you’ll be able to order from 3pm tomorrow, ahead of its release on April 5th.

Source: HTC Vive Blog

How do you get ‘verified’ on Tinder?

I, Mat Smith, through the gift of working as a journalist here at Engadget, am verified. On both Twitter and Facebook. It’s the social networks’ way of certifying that I’m better than the muggles that people are who they say they are. I get a ticket to digital VIP room. Am I somebody? Not really. But you get certain bragging rights when you have that blue tick next to your name. Now Tinder’s jumped on the bandwagon: It, too, has verified profiles. To be clear, there’s no honorable, journalistic reason for me to be verified, but when I joked about getting such a certification on the online dating app, I received a flood of direct messages asking for confirmation (skeptics!) and for advice on how they could get the same treatment. Can I get Tinder Famous? Do I even want to?

Like other social networks, Tinder points people to its site FAQ for questions on how it verifies accounts. “Only some public figures, celebrities and brands will be verified,” it says. To the extent that you can link your Instagram account to your profile, it passes the buck somewhat to Facebook for authentication.

The confirmation process is otherwise a manual one: You shoot an email to verified@tinder.com explaining why you should be verified. Ways to do this include showing you’ve been given the same treatment on other social networks, or by indicating that you’re someone in the public eye. To all the celebrities reading this, you probably have plenty of evidence if you’re really, actually famous. Tinder says it receives multiple requests a day. In response, the company takes a closer look at your background, fan base and other social media accounts before deciding if you get a verified badge. (At this point I get the feeling that I neither need nor qualify for Tinder’s blue tick — and didn’t try to use nefarious media powers to claim verification)

Verified on Tinder.

— Mathew (@thatmatsmith) January 18, 2016

The Hollywood Reporter said that Lindsay Lohan and Ashton Kutcher are users — and that Josh Groban is definitely not. Katy Perry said she used it at one point. And yet, I’ve not yet seen a blue tick while browsing in (I hope I don’t sound desperate here) New York, London, LA or Tokyo. I’m not the only one who’s found famous Tinder users conspicuous by their absence.

Multiple Tinder representatives told me that the company doesn’t disclose figures on how many people have been graced with blue icons. It could be a very small number, or it could be that verified Tinderellas and Tinderfellas are quick to find long-term love. Maybe?

Before Tinder’s verification system, I had seen famous people during my Tinder time-wasting, but I never swiped right (“yes”) on these famous people, as I wasn’t interested. There’s always the huge seed of doubt that this isn’t the person they say they are (the main reason for Tinder adding verification). Besides, it may be that many public figures don’t want the extra attention that a social network gold star would confer. They might avoid verification because they’re hoping it won’t get in the way — or fear the negative connotations that still pervade dating apps.

Perhaps, in the most naive of ways, famous people are just looking for love. That said, the famous people I’ve seen go for selfies and unpolished group pics. Katy Perry’s not on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards, and Zac Efron isn’t using a still with his top off from … all those movies where he’s topless at some point.

Even at my low level of writer fame — and as my colleague “Laptop Lady” Dana can already attest to — it’s a weird experience meeting with someone who knows your work. I often drop my employer from dating profiles. I might want a more visible profile when it comes to my work life, but I don’t need the same when it comes to dating.

Organize scarves and ties with shower curtain hooks – CNET

Closet organization isn’t exactly rocket science. For example, you can use a large Command Hook or two to hang belts. However, finding a place to store certain garments or other miscellaneous items while also maintaining order is often easier said than done.

For ties and scarves, there is a very simple solution. All you need is a handful of shower curtain hooks and a clothes hanger, which you can find in packs of 12 for around $1.00 at your local Walmart or dollar store.

Taylor Martin/CNET

To make your own tie rack, take an unused clothes hanger from your closet and add one shower curtain hook per tie to the rung on the clothes hanger. Thread the ties through the hooks, one by one, and hang the clothes hanger on the clothes rod.

This also works exceptionally well for organizing your scarves and making them easier to sift through quickly.

If you have a scarf or tie that only goes well with one particular garment, put the shirt or garment on the coat hanger, slip the shower curtain hook over the hook end of the hanger and thread the tie or scarf through the hook.

If you want to take it one step further, you can attach a Command Hook to the wall and place your clothes hanger with the ties or scarves on it.

Here’s where things get tricky and frustrating. Once you get everything hung and in the closet, you may realize that the clothes hanger does a really poor job of staying level with ties on it. A slight bump will send all the hooks to one end of the clothes hanger.

To prevent this from happening, use a small amount of hot glue on each shower curtain hook to hold it in place.

Alternatively, if you find this solution isn’t stable enough and you have some extra space on the hanging rod in your closet, you can add the shower curtain hooks directly to the rod itself. This way, you won’t need glue and the ties will stay in place much better.

Fitbit Blaze review – CNET

The Good Comfortable design; a large, readable display; good-looking accessories; solid four-day-plus battery life; works with iPhones and Android phones.

The Bad It’s wide; pop-out design for band-swapping and charging feels clunky; can’t shower with it; baked-in Fitstar workouts don’t do much.

The Bottom Line Fitbit’s first real smartwatch gets a lot of things right, including comfort, features, and price, but it’s not a slam-dunk design for everyone.

My wife said to me, “I want a fitness tracker that’s a watch. Can you get one for me?” I know there are lots of options. But I’m not sure a lot would be up her alley. There are almost-normal watches that have some basic fitness in them, like the Withings Activite Pop. There are super-powered smartwatches that do some health tracking but need lots of charging, like Apple Watch. And there are dedicated fitness watches for runners.

Then there’s Fitbit.

The Fitbit Blaze is the company’s first major attempt at making an everyday watch. It’s somewhere between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch, and picks a little from both. It’s a similar idea to what other companies like Garmin already have, but with Fitbit’s software. And it costs $200, or roughly £135/AU$280 (it has a variety of bands and accessories that can make it look nicer, but also run up the price).

I wore one for a week. Would it be my ideal combination watch and fitness tracker of choice? Well, it comes really really close.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

At first I thought: I don’t want to wear this

The Blaze aims to look attractive. It is, sort of. But a lot of the Fitbit Blaze’s design feels weirdly retro, like a first-gen smartwatch or something vaguely 80s. Someone at work called it a “Delorean on your wrist.” It also has an angular Diesel watch-like look. The sharp corners and wide screen aren’t for everyone. I’d say the office was pretty split on it. Some thought it was surprisingly lightweight and looked great, and others said it wasn’t their style at all.

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Fitbit Blaze next to similar-looking cousins: Apple Watch, iPod Nano with wristband, and Pebble Time Steel.

Sarah Tew/CNET

I wasn’t wild about it at first, but after taking off the Apple Watch and riding solo with Fitbit Blaze I found it met most of my needs. It’s not a bad design, either. And it’s extremely comfortable to wear. The whole package reminds me a bit like the Basis Peak (if you’re a smartwatch nerd, you might remember). Peak tried to be a fully automatic fitness watch. Its one-week battery life and always-on screen made it really convenient. Fitbit Blaze feels similarly convenient, but it doesn’t have an always-on screen. The Blaze’s finicky LED touchscreen blinks off after just a few seconds, but at least it lights up when you raise your wrist or tap.

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Blaze tracks steps, heart rate, sleep, stairs, and syncs with the same Fitbit app as always.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Then I thought: this isn’t much different than a regular Fitbit

The Blaze tracks steps, stair climbing, heart rate, and sleep automatically, just like our current favorite fitness tracker, Fitbit Charge HR. It also adds a large color touchscreen and side buttons, which can let you start and stop workouts plus get stats mid-session like heart rate, pace, etc. It comes with four fitness watch faces, which are all a little easier to read than the Charge HR’s super-tiny display. And it can work as a stopwatch or timer.

The Blaze has a few small “smart” functions: it gets texts, shows incoming phone calls, and calendar reminders. It can control music playback from your phone with a mini-remote on the screen. But that’s it. (Thankfully, messages can be silenced.) It can buzz you with silent alarms, too, for wake-up calls. Is that enough? I missed the extra messages, hooks and some apps of the Apple Watch. But I don’t always need them. After a couple of days, I learned to do without them. For someone who hates the idea of a smartwatch, Fitbit Blaze might be just enough of a balance.

In fact, most of the Blaze’s features are pretty similar to the more expensive Fitbit Surge, except the Surge has an always-on black and white screen, and also has built-in stand-alone GPS. By contrast, the Blaze needs to sync with the GPS on your phone to track runs. (Which means you need to have your phone with you — something serious runners sometimes don’t like to do.)

I like that the Blaze records “active exercise” when it senses you’re working hard for over ten minutes. After each day, much like Apple Watch and other trackers are starting to do, I could get a better sense of how sedentary I was (or wasn’t).

From the Editor’s Desk: Damn, that was fun …

Woe to the blogger who complains even a little bit about having to work in Barcelona for a week. But that’s not to say Mobile World Congress isn’t work, and that’s not to say some years aren’t better than others. And this year may well have been our best.

We did upwards of 100 stories. (Probably more, given that we undoubtedly missed a tag or two.) Some was done in advance, but more than half was live. (I’d been warning folks for a few weeks to expect some seriously heavy coverage, right?) Work at these things tends to expand to fill the time we have. There’s always something more to be done. (We’ve still got a few stragglers to be posted, actually.)

I’m pretty stoked about all the videos we did.

Having someone like Mark Guim on the ground with us is a game-changer for us when it comes to video. (And we’re lucky we get to steal him away from Windows Central as much as we do. And having the crew of Alex Dobie, Andrew Martonik, Richard Devine and Derek Kessler on hand means we pretty much can do anything you can throw at us. I raised a glass in Spain, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t do so here as well.

A few other thoughts on the past week or so …

• I really think folks are going to pleasantly surprised by the LG G5 once they actually get it in their hands. It’s a really good phone, never mind all this modular stuff.
• We did more interview-style reports this year. Those are fun to do, though they definitely take more time. But they’re important to do.
• Especially that piece on Sony, the new X line, and what it means for the Xperia Z line. A lot of single-paragraph quotes were floating around that morning. We brought you a full interview and the realization that maybe (and I’m not 100 percent convinced either way) the Xperia Z line isn’t all the way dead, with great context from Alex’s writing.
• Intel’s Aicha Evans is awesome. I’ve been around some candid execs before, but none quite this candid.
• Same goes for Motorola’s Rick Osterloh and Adrienne Hayes. The short version there is they’ve still got some marketing and branding hurdles to overcome. But they’re excited about upcoming products.
• I wish I’d been at the Xiaomi Mi 5 event. (Logistical issues strike again.) That looks like a sweet phone.
• I haven’t really said anything here about the Samsung Galaxy S7. My quick take is if you loved the GS6, you’re really going to love this phone. It’s even better. (I’m particularly excited about the size and feel of the GS7 proper.) It’s going to be a tough choice between it and the edge.
• And we didn’t really touch on 5G at all, which was the main theme of MWC this year. It’s coming, for sure, but it’s still way early. A couple years before it consumers need to worry about it. It’s not just speed this time either, but how all of these connected things will talk to each other.
• We had our list of MWC winners, but I think the big winner was Qualcomm’s marketing department. It was Snapdragon 820 everywhere you looked.

So that’s (just about) it for MWC 2016. Now the real work begins. We’re in the midst of a pretty big overhaul of what we do and how we do it. A lot’s going to change, but the core of what we do will remain the same. And it’s going to get even better. Stay tuned. I’m excited as hell. Thanks for coming along for the ride with us.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: A flying car by 2018, and more!

If you’ve been waiting forever for a flying car, you won’t have to hold out much longer: The Terrafugia TF-X will take to the skies by the year 2018. In other transportation news, Singapore-based Vanda Electric unveiled an insane 1,500-horsepower supercar that can go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds. Tesla partnered with Radio Flyer to roll out a tiny Model S for kids. And a NASA scientist thinks that in the far future lasers could send a spacecraft to Mars in just 30 minutes.

Singapore-based Vanda Electric unveiled a 1,500-horsepower supercar that can go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds

The Indian Point nuclear plant is located just 25 miles north of New York City, and recent reports show that it’s leaking “uncontrollable radioactive flow” into the groundwater. Meanwhile, a damage report on the Los Angeles methane leak shows that it’s one of the worst disasters in US history. On the brighter side of things, a revolutionary new solar plant in Arizona generates clean power all day and all night. Norway announced plans to build the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, and Bill Gates thinks that a climate-saving energy breakthrough is only 15 years away.

architect Vincent Callebaut unveiled plans for an urban farming utopia that produces more energy than it uses

LED bulbs revolutionized the way that we light our homes, and now they could give internet speeds a big boost. French startup Oldecomm has developed a new LED Li-Fi technology that’s 100 times faster than conventional WiFi. In other design and technology news, Tokyo students developed a 3D-printing pen that can draw structures in mid-air. Apparel company Oros is using NASA technology to create super insulating aerogel jackets for hitting the slopes. And visionary architect Vincent Callebaut unveiled plans for an urban farming utopia that produces more energy than it uses.

Ducati XDiavel S throws a devilish punch

Translogic host Jonathon Buckley takes a ride on the all new XDiavel S from Ducati. With 1,262 cc of displacement, this motorcycle packs a punch, but does it live up to its ‘techno cruiser’ moniker?

“The idea here is that we have the most technologically-advanced cruiser,” said Jason Chinnock, CEO of Ducati North America. “We decided that it was important to capture kind of the raw elements of a cruiser, but then look forward to the future…in regards to technology that Ducati can bring to the table and bring to this market.”

The laundry list of technologies include keyless ignition, traction control, cornering ABS, Ducati power launch control, customizable ride modes, and other connected tech like a Bluetooth link between the rider’s helmet and the bike. Of course, Bucko had to test out wheelie control on the XDiavel S.

“You’ve got 156 horsepower and 95 ft-lbs of torque,” said Jonathon. “That basically means that I’m currently riding a cruiser that not only can do wheelies, but wants to do wheelies.”

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Dyson Small Ball Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The all-new Dyson Small Ball upright vacuum cleaner.

Chris Monroe/CNET

The new Small Ball upright vacuum by Dyson, available now on Amazon and Dyson.com for $400 — and in the UK starting at £370 — looks like pretty standard fare for the premium small appliance company.

It’s a colorful, visually appealing hunk of plastic parts, complete with the requisite cyclone technology and ball-wheel contraption designed for optimal maneuverability.

While Dyson products do tend to look cool, we haven’t always reviewed them favorably. We did like the V6, the V6 Absolute and the V6 Motorhead stick models, as well as the filter-free Cinetic Big Ball Animal Allergy upright vacuum, but nearly everything else we’ve tested has lost points due to questionable value. Yes, the models often performed well, but they’re extremely expensive compared with the competition and they don’t feel particularly durable.

Ry Crist noted that, “the vacuum clicks into its upright position, but it doesn’t always stick and can come crashing to the floor” in his review of the Dyson Ball Energy. That’s a pretty standard sentiment when it comes to the brand’s upright vacuums.

More vacuum news:

• These Dyson inventions didn’t make it to market (pictures)
• Messy results undermine Electrolux’s nicely designed stick vac
• New Dyson, same deal-breakers

But, Dyson seems to be shaking things up a bit with the Small Ball. It weighs 12.15 pounds — the larger Ball Energy weighs 17.3 pounds for reference. The vacuum is supposed to be 30 percent quieter than previous compact models, the wand is 25 percent longer and most notably, it’s equipped with a “new magnetic lock” that’s specifically designed to keep the vacuum from falling down after you lock it into position.

This “magnetic lock” could go a long way toward changing our opinion of the overall build quality of Dyson’s upright vacuums and is something we look forward to testing soon. Stay tuned.

Valve has fired its ‘Dota 2’ Shanghai Major tournament host

Gabe Newell, head honcho at Valve, has abruptly (and very publicly) fired ‘Dota 2’ Shanghai Major tournament host James “2GD” Harding. Newell made the announcement via Reddit on Friday, stating “We’ve had issues with James at previous events. Some Valve people lobbied to bring him back for Shanghai, feeling that he deserved another chance. That was a mistake. James is an ass, and we won’t be working with him again.” Newell also confirmed that he’d fired the production company responsible for the tournament’s broadcast.

DOTA 2 is Valve’s most popular Steam game and the subject of four prestigious tournaments every year. The Shanghai Major alone doles out $3 million in prizes to the 16 participating teams. That’s not exactly the appropriate stage for Harding to blurt out “cunts” and make masturbation jokes, as he did earlier this week, which likely figured heavily into his dismissal. The production company, for its part, was reportedly terminated over shoddy broadcast quality. The Shanghai Major’s early matches have been beset with laggy video and out-of-sync audio.

Via: Verge

Source: Reddit

AI learns to predict human reactions by reading our fiction

A team of Stanford researchers have developed a novel means of teaching artificial intelligence systems how to predict a human’s response to their actions. They’ve given their knowledge base, dubbed Augur, access to online writing community Wattpad and its archive of more than 600,000 stories. This information will enable support vector machines (basically, learning algorithms) to better predict what people do in the face of various stimuli.

“Over many millions of words, these mundane patterns [of people’s reactions] are far more common than their dramatic counterparts,” the team wrote in their study. “Characters in modern fiction turn on the lights after entering rooms; they react to compliments by blushing; they do not answer their phones when they are in meetings.”

In its initial field tests, using an Augur-powered wearable camera, the system correctly identified objects and people 91 percent of the time. It correctly predicted their next move 71 percent of the time.

This isn’t the first time developers have turned to books to teach computers, mind you. Facebook just this week handed its AI a 1.96 gb stack of children’s books in hopes of teaching it a similar lesson.

Via: The Stack

Source: Arxiv